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Erinn

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Mike Bostock

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Best chart types

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Hanna Woodburn

Erinn Wong

Tom Barnes

Allison Horst

Observable

There are many factors that go into data visualization decisions, but one of the most important is selecting the right chart. This post outlines which charts work best for different types of data.  

Choosing the right chart for your data

One way we keep Observable Canvases fast (even when displaying dense, branched, visual analyses) is by virtualizing rows and columns that aren’t currently visible to users. Read on to learn the basics of table virtualization, and how it improves canvas performance.

Table virtualization in Observable Canvases

Joins are a cornerstone of data wrangling, but are surprisingly challenging to build as UI-based operations. Get a behind the scenes look into why joins are hard, and how we handle them in Observable Canvases. 

Challenges underlying the humble data join

Advanced, interactive charts can be hard to build from scratch. But in Observable Canvases, you can make and share them in minutes. We highlight six new charts now available in canvases: Sankey diagrams, beeswarm charts, streamgraphs, bump charts, arc maps, and circle packing charts.

Expanding our suite of built-in charts in Observable Canvases

Our biggest release yet for Observable Canvases is here with new chart types, support for internal embedding, and dashboard creation.  


Observable Canvases: New chart types, dashboards, and easier ways to share

Kickstart your analysis and start visualizing data with Observable Plot. In this guide, we outline some common chart types, and share ready-to-use snippets to help you quickly start exploring data.

Building 5 essential charts with Observable Plot

Grid cartograms are thematic maps that represent spatial regions with simplified geometric shapes like squares or hexagons. In this overview, we introduce grid cartograms, highlight pros and cons of this chart type, describe common alternatives, and share resources that can help you start building them with Observable.

What is a grid cartogram?

Discover how Observable nurtures a people‑first company culture to accelerate AI adoption and build friction‑free AI workflows, including AI stipends and real‑world integrations.

How we’re integrating AI into our company culture

Get a preview of the next generation of Observable Notebooks.

Previewing Observable Notebooks 2.0

Data teams are rapidly adopting AI tools to boost data analysis workflows from initial exploration to dashboard development. Learn three ways that AI can improve exploratory data analysis with examples of each in an Observable Canvas.

Observable blog

Choosing the right chart for your data

Choosing the right chart for your data

Table virtualization in Observable Canvases

Challenges underlying the humble data join

Expanding our suite of built-in charts in Observable Canvases

Observable Canvases: New chart types, dashboards, and easier ways to share

Building 5 essential charts with Observable Plot

What is a grid cartogram?

How we’re integrating AI into our company culture

Previewing Observable Notebooks 2.0

Three ways to use AI for exploratory data analysis